TV | May 3rd 2017

Wedding Prep with Hannah: Let Them Eat Cake

For as long as I can remember, my father has always claimed that he doesn’t like cake. It’s a very bold statement- I know. He was always reserved with desserts. I love dark chocolate but normally unless there is a truly mouthwatering sweet in front of me, I pass up a dessert too. I do love cake, but my taste for cake is pretty unconventional because of my passion for alternative healthy ingredients.

I just had my bridal shower and I thought it would be cool to have the kind of desserts that I love and share them with my peeps. My friends indulged on the BEST chocolate cake I’ve ever had from Cocoa V. It was vegan and it also comes in a gluten-free version, but I ordered the gluten one because I was already going to have to tell my friends that it was vegan, *cue eye roll*. Ransome Treats also provided some amazing raw desserts filled with clean ingredients and healthy fats. The Matcha cake and that TRIberry tart were both hits.

When it came to picking a wedding cake, though, I had a few more rules in mind. I prefer unconventional types of cakes, like cheesecake and flourless chocolate cake. Brendan on the other hand is allergic to chocolate. I’m not kidding! It’s a blessing and a curse. We had our work cut out for us. Because I’m not into traditional sweet cakes and Brendan doesn’t eat chocolate and my dad was no help, I needed to think outside the box. I wanted to find something that was moist, unexpected, and not overly sweet.

As I was scrolling through Instagram one day, I was stalking my friend Eden on her pregnancy food tour and I ended up seeing a slice of cake that really excited me. It was an olive oil cake, which reminded me of these amazing olive oil cakes I had in Israel with orange blossom, cherries, pistachios, butter cream, and more. I knew this was it. Rich and complex, with intense flavors from parts of the globe that pride themselves on their baking traditions. The combos were endless. It would be the cake of all cakes!

Thank god for my Instagram stalking habit (also a blessing and a curse), because Eden provided the inspo for our wedding cake! I reached out and we had an epic day of baking, testing, and tasting (mostly tasting). Food is such an important part of my life and sharing this wedding cake with our guests will be as much of an act of love and devotion as making it was. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as me!

Directions:

Butter and lightly flour a 9 inch cake pan, line with parchment paper. In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients and whisk to incorporate. In another bowl, mix the coconut milk, olive oil, eggs, orange zest and orange juice. Add the flour in 3 stages until just combined. Make sure to mix it too much. Place the batter in the pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean around 45-50 minutes. If it gets too dark, cover loosely with tinfoil and continue baking. Let cool completely and frost with the orange blossom cream cheese frosting.